Year 3 Number 78 September 8th 2002
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Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being SHARED
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Dear SHARERS,
A big thank you to all our dear
SHARERS that sent their “get well” messages to Omar last week (unbelievable but
apart from our brothers and sisters from Latin America, we even got one message
from Japan and another from Malaysia!)
Our gratitude to all the
well-wishers from close by and from far afar : all of them VERY close to our
hearts.
This is what binds us together. We
are 4.237 SHARERS a big but close family.
Shall we let a dear SHARER
Betina Miretti from
Saint Paul's Goya, Corrientes to say it, exactly how
we feel SHARE?
“Love doesn't sit there like a stone , it has
to be made, like bread; remade all the time , made new . thank you for being
our friends!!
Love
Omar and Marina
In SHARE 78
1.- Livin´ la lengua
loca.
2.- Teaching at University
level.
3.- Mega-evento para
Traductores y Profesores.
4.- What you always wanted
to know about Affixes.
5.- APIBA SIGS in
September.
6.- Pronunciation
Software.
7.- Moving
Upward.
8.- Understanding Countable
and Uncountable Nouns.
9.- New Website for
Teachers of English : E- teaching on line.
10.- When Children
Learn.
11.- FAAPI 2002 The Final
Countdown.
12.- New Book by an Argentinian
Author.
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1.- LIVIN´ LA LENGUA
LOCA
Our dear SHARER Gustavo Hermida from Bariloche sent us this interesting article
about the current state of Spanglish
La
explosión latina en los Estados Unidos y la popularización de los términos
informáticos expanden el uso del spanglish, una mezcla de inglés y castellano.
Entre polémicas acerca de su status -¿es un idioma, un dialecto o la deformación
de una lengua?-, toma por asalto a la Web.
Texto
© Lisandro Berenguer Grassi
Frase
uno: “Te dejo porque me tengo que ir a la marketa a pickear unas grocerías”.
Frase dos: “Alguien me maileó el virus, que me deleteó todas las filas del disco
rígido”. Traducción uno: “Te dejo porque me tengo que ir al supermercado para
hacer unas compras”. Traducción dos: “Alguien me envió un correo electrónico con
un virus que me borró todos los archivos del disco
rígido”.
El
idioma de la traducción es claro: el viejo y querido español (o castellano), la
lengua de Cervantes, Borges y García Márquez. Las frases, en cambio, son
expresiones en espanglés (o spanglish), un lenguaje que se habla en New York,
Nuevo México, Tejas, Los Angeles, Puerto Rico y también... Buenos Aires.
El
titular de Clarín anunció un paso más en la oficialización del espanglés como un
dialecto del español: “Preparan el primer diccionario de spanglish en los
Estados Unidos” ( www.clarin.com.ar/diario/2001-02-20/s-03015.htm
). Ilan Stavens, un filólogo mexicano que trabaja en la Universidad de
Massachussetts, está preparando un lexicón de más de seis mil palabras tomadas
del uso diario del spanglish en las comunidades latinas de EE.UU., el principal
foco de infección (para los que defenestran al espanglés) o de uso (para los que
lo aceptan).
Claro
que una vez que el tema tomó estado público, la polémica estalló. Que si es un
idioma, que si no, que si es una aberración, que si va a reemplazar al español o
si va a modificarlo de alguna manera. Pero lo que el grueso de la gente no sabe
es que la discusión no es nueva. Hace años que defensores y detractores del
spanglish chocan. Y adivinar dónde se pegan no es difícil...
Uno
de los campos de batalla privilegiados es, por supuesto, la Web. La discusión
online acerca del spanglish se remonta a unos cuantos años ya. Por ejemplo,
rebuscando en los arcones de Internet encontramos algunos artículos
interesantes, sobre todo con la perspectiva que dan los años transcurridos entre
que fueron escritos y ahora. En La página del idioma español podemos encontrar
dos textos: uno, de 1995,
(
www.el-castellano.com/span2.html
) en el que se critica a los propulsores de no utilizar adaptaciones al español
de los términos más comunes en Internet, como “enlace” por “link” o “correo
electrónico” en lugar de “e-mail”. El lenguaje del artículo ya es virulento,
como anticipando las discusiones entre defensores y detractores del spanglish
que vendrían más adelante.
La
segunda nota ( www.el-castellano.com/spnglis2.html
), sin embargo, es de mayor interés. Data de 1997, y divide a los propagadores
del spanglish en dos tipos. Uno es el utilizado por los hispanoparlantes de
EE.UU. (aquellos que dicen “vacunar la carpeta” por “vacuum the carpet”; es
decir, aspirar la alfombra). En esta sublengua abundan las reconstrucciones y
transposiciones fonéticas de palabras, además de la conjugación castellanizada
de verbos ingleses. El segundo tipo de spanglish es utilizado por quienes se
relacionan con la informática y la ciencia. Dentro de este grupo, aparecen
términos directamente no traducibles o que, por pereza, nadie quiso traducir.
Este
tipo de spanglish se utiliza en todo el mundo de habla hispana, con especial
énfasis fuera de España, en donde hay una mayor flexibilidad a la hora de
adaptar nuevos vocablos, y está tan difundido que a veces ni lo notamos. Es más,
según esos parámetros, iSurf es una revista escrita en spanglish. Los términos
“Cool Site”, “e-mail”, “mouse”, “download” y demás son sólo ejemplos de cuán
incorporadas están estas construcciones gramaticales a nuestro lenguaje diario.
Seamos
sinceros, esto suele ser por pereza más que por otra razón. Porque términos en
español existen para casi todos los vocablos ingleses que se usan en
computación. Así lo atestiguan dos utilísimas páginas: Basic Computer English
Pitfalls
(http://maja.dit.upm.es/~aalva
rez/pitfalls),
creada por un usuario desinteresado, y Anglicismos, barbarismos y neologismos en
el lenguaje informático (www.ati.es/gt/lengua-infor
matica/externos/sampedr1.html ), mantenida por la Asociación de Técnicos de
Informática de España. Estos sites detallan los errores más comunes de
castellanización de términos ingleses o de interpretación literal de palabras
que “suenan” españolas pero que en inglés tienen un significado distinto (por
ejemplo, “librería”, del inglés “library”, que en verdad quiere decir
“biblioteca”).
El
spanglish de La Raza
Pero
el “peligro” mayor del espanglés no viene por el lado informático sino del Gran
País del Norte, EE.UU., donde los latinos (que se autodenominan “La Raza”) lo
usan más y más. Ya en 1997 sonaban las campanas de alarma, como lo atestigua una
nota de ese año en El Mundo (http://sudinero.elmundo.es/1997/03/31/cultura/31N0072.html),
en la que se relatan los orígenes del híbrido, al principio estigmatizado como
el pastiche de los inmigrantes que no podían hablar bien inglés.
Claro
que todo cambia y debido al crecimiento de “La Raza” en EE.UU., los latinos
están empezando a reconocerse y a presentar sus credenciales con orgullo, además
de haberse transformado en un mercado interesante desde el punto de vista
económico. Y no es para menos. El Censo 2000 mostró que en EE.UU. hay 40
millones de hispanos. Esto lo transforma en el tercer país en número de gente
que habla español! (después de México y España y antes que la Argentina).
¿Suena
raro, no? Pero esto queda demostrado en la “explosión latina” que viven en este
momento América del Norte. Y en la aproximación diferente y no tan agresiva
hacia el espanglés, como en la nota en la que Telépolis “presenta” a esta forma
de hablar (www.telepolis.com/weekend/week34/articulo.htm
), en donde se reivindican algunas características del spanglish. Claro que no
todos están contentos. Así lo hizo saber la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua
Española en una carta abierta a la comunidad educativa y a las otras 21
academias de español del mundo (http://majordomo.eunet.es/listserv/apuntes/2000-11/1809.html
). En esta carta se defenestra al spanglish como una forma de “hablar mal inglés
y peor español”.
Mientras
los académicos se rompen los cuernos intentado definir si el espanglés es un
idioma, un dialecto, una deformación o qué, habría que recordar que los
lenguajes cambian y se desarrollan, evolucionan y fluctúan... o mueren. Y que el
español, en definitiva, es una “deformación” de otro idioma más venerable, el
latín (para más datos, ver el interesantísimo artículo de la Enciclopedia
Britannica acerca de idiomas romances como el español, el francés y el italiano,
en www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=118108
).
En
Internet, el spanglish goza de excelente salud, a pesar de lo que quieran
algunos. Unos cuantos diccionarios online despejan las dudas que pueden surgir
si se quiere practicar visitar (http://members.tripod.com/~nelson_g/spanglish.html
). Y en los EE.UU., el espanglés está rozagante, y tiene cada vez más
popularidad entre el público latino (y anglosajón). Como muestra basta un botón:
Spanglish Domains (www.spanglishdomains.com/ ) ofrece
dominios que comienzan con “Mas” (MasBooks) y con “SeHabla” (SeHablaTravel). Así
que, mientras la polémica spanglish/espanglés continúa, nosotros podemos decir:
¡Long live La Raza!
El
negocio de ser latino
Las
noticias no pueden ser más contundentes. “Los hispanos son mayoría en Florida”;
“Un latino estuvo a punto de ser el alcalde de Los Angeles”; “Los latinos han
sobrepasado a los afroamericanos como primera minoría”. Desde otro ángulo, el
mundo del espectáculo está descubriendo al gigante latino: el Oscar a Benicio
del Toro, el actor portorriqueño, el espacio que los diarios dedican a cada
andanza de Jennifer López y Christina Aguilera y la “vida loca” de Ricky Martin
son sólo la punta del iceberg.
Porque
además de un incremento en su poder, los latinos son un nuevo mercado a
conquistar. La revista American Demographics publicó un artículo sobre el tema
(www.britannica.com/magazine?ebsco_id=89307
), en donde se explora el nuevo poder adquisitivo de los latinos (los
adolescentes gastan un promedio de 320 dólares al mes, más que el grueso de los
“teens” estadounidenses) y la atracción que ejercen sobre el resto de la cultura
de EE.UU., desde la música (con la increíble variedad de ritmos latinos que
existen) hasta la ropa (créase o no, las guayaberas se están poniendo de
onda).
Hablamos
spanglish
En
mayor o menor grado, la cultura spanglish está dejando su marca en el espacio
latino de los Estados Unidos. Y esto se refleja en la calle y en Internet.
Latina (www.latina.com/ ) y UrbanLatino (www.urbanlatino.com ) son dos revistas de
papel que se consiguen en cualquier puesto de venta y que están escritas en
spanglish. Ambas reivindican “la experiencia latina”. La primera es una típica
revista para chicas, con la diferencia que sus notas están en inglés, español y
espanglés. UrbanLatino tiene un perfil más sofisticado.
Ya
acotado solamente a la Web, Pocho.com: Spanglish is my language (www.pocho.com) es un site de humor en spanglish que se
mofa sobre todo de la política yanqui (entre sus “10 señales de que hay un boom
latino en EE.UU.”, remarcan que “el presidente Bush ahora puede equivocarse en
sus discursos en inglés y en castellano”. Altamente recomendable. Y el espanglés
tiene su propio portal, LoQueSea.com : Do Spanglish (www.us.loquesea.com ), la versión en este
dialecto de la serie de portales que LoQueSea tiene para el mercado latino. Las
secciones tienen pintorescos nombres espangleses como “The Barrio” (la comunidad
virtual), o “La Clicka” (que quiere decir “banda” pero que aquí designa a la
zona de juegos).
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2.- TEACHING ENGLISH AT
UNIVERSITY LEVEL
Primer Congreso Internacional
"Teaching English at University level:
Challenges and
Perspectives": Se celebrará en Cancún, México, del 26 al 29
de
septiembre de 2002, organizado por la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma
de
Puebla. Versará sobre teorías y metodologías en la enseñanza
del idioma.
For further information, e-mail: igarrido@siu.buap.mx
or visit the Website: http://www.buap.mx/eventos/lenguas/index.html
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3.- MEGA EVENTO PARA
TRADUCTORES Y PROFESORES
Our dear SHARERS from
English Speakers send us this very special invitation for all our SHARERS:
A todos los SHARERS,
Me dirijo a ustedes con el fin de informarle que
el dia 14 de septiembre estamos organizando en el hotel InterContinental de Bs
As, el Primer Mega
Evento para traductores y profesores de Inglés.
Nos gustaría darles la posiblidad de que los
miembros de Share ingresen al evento con un descuento del
10%
EnglishSpeakers.com.ar promociona sólo eventos de altísima calidad en
hoteles 5 estrellas, con oradores de gran calibre. En este caso presentamos el
primer MEGA EVENTO del año para profesores y traductores de inglés el
día 14 de septiembre
en el hotel INTER-CONTINENTAL, en Buenos Aires.
El precio de la entrada es de $50 y la única
entidad autorizada para la venta de entradas es Librería Rodríguez (Sarmiento
835) en Buenos Aires. La gran mayoría de los asistentes al evento son directores
de carreras de universidades o instituciones terciarias, profesores,
traductores, intérpretes, o alumnos que cursan dichas carreras.
Toda la información del evento se encuentra en el
sitio (englishspeakers.com.ar), desde los CVs de los oradores hasta el hotel,
fecha, programa y temas a tratar. Habrá una exposición de libros en el foyer del
hotel en todos los coffee-breaks. Todos los asistentes recibirán el material
impreso de las proyecciones en pantalla grande de los 2 disertantes. Los
oradores elegidos para el 2002 fueron el Dr. Ricardo Chiesa y Aldo Blanco M.A.
quienes son excelentes profesionales en sus áreas y juntos podrán ofrecer el
mejor de los eventos.
Cada orador hará una exposición sobre
los temas indicados en la página, que estará seguida de un intercambio con los
asistentes para la formulación y contestación de preguntas y la evacuación de
consultas.
Luego se trabajará con ejercicios que se proveerán
a los asistentes, a modo de aplicación práctica de los contenidos expuestos en
la disertación. Habrá un stand que ofrece pasantías rentadas en Estados Unidos
para trabajar en el campo de la enseñanza o de la traducción. También estarán
presentes los stands de librerías, asociaciones e institutos.
Si están interesados en nuestra propuesta, no dude
en comunicarse con Omar a share@netizen.com.ar para que él nos
envíe la confirmación de su pertenencia a SHARE y luego puedan inscribirse con
un arancel reducido en un 10%.
Los esperamos en el evento.
Englishspeakers@com.ar
Programa del Mega Evento : Hotel
Inter- Continental - Salón Moserrat – Moreno 809- Buenos
Aires
Acreditación:
De 9.00 a 9.30
Primera Sesión:
De 9.40 a 11.00 – Dr Ricardo Chiesa
Estrategias para la traducción de términos políticos y jurídicos. Parte
1
Disertación en castellano
1º Coffee Break:
De 11.00 a 11.30 - Café y venta de
libros
Segunda Sesión:
De 11.30 a 13.00 – Dr Ricardo Chiesa
Estrategias para la traducción de términos políticos y jurídicos. Parte
2
Disertación en castellano
ALMUERZO
De 13.00 a 14.30
Primera Sesión:
De 14.30 a 16.00 - Aldo Blanco M.A.
El Inglés Avanzado: qué enseñar y cómo. Parte
1
Disertación en inglés
2º Coffee Break:
De 16.00 a 16.30 - Café y venta de
libros
Segunda Sesión:
De 16.30 a 17.30 - Aldo Blanco M.A.
El Inglés Avanzado: qué enseñar y cómo. Parte
2
Disertación en inglés
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4.-
WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT AFFIXES
Review: Quinion,
Michael "Ologies and Isms: Word Beginnings and Endings", Oxford University
Press; paperback, pp280; ISBN 0-19-280123-6
Reviewed by
lexicographer Jonathon Green, editor of the "Cassell Dictionary of Slang", and
author of "Chasing the Sun: Dictionary Makers and the Dictionaries They Made"
and many other works.
Like the DNA that lies at the heart of the human
body, language too has its building blocks, fundamental and indivisible, the
literal foundations of the vocabulary. For the linguist these are the phonemes,
from the Greek "phoneima", a sound, and defined by the OED as "a phonological
unit of language that cannot be analyzed into smaller linear units" and by David
Crystal as "the minimal unit in the sound system of a language". But if the
phonemes are the foundations, the word, the linguistic "house" as it were,
offers other, more obviously visible components. These are the prefixes and
suffixes, the tops and tails of a given word: "hypo-","palaeo-", "onco-",
"-saur", "-gynous", "-cyte". On any page, in any sentence, such portmanteau
terms abound: acquaint oneself with the meaning of such appendages and one is on
the way to full
definition.
There are very many such affixes and such
etymological dictionaries as those of Skeat or Partridge always offered a
cross-section. Now, in one dedicated volume, Michael Quinion (who, as
after-dinner speakers put it, "needs no introduction") has collected what one
might term the core list, each with an etymology and a range of
examples. The
1,250-strong lexicon comes in dictionary order, plus sidebars that focus on such
especially popular terms as "cyber-", "-cide", "-phobia", and "-algia", plus a
list of those determining multiples, among them "yotta-" (10 to the power of 24)
and "zepto" (10 to the power of -21). In addition there are thematic lists
-
unsurprisingly the worlds of Medicine and Surgery, plus the attendant Body,
predominate here, closely followed by those of the Chemical Elements. Among
other areas, Religion and Spirit, Sensations, Shapes and Time all provide their
own examples.
As might be expected the bulk of such material is based in
Greek or Latin. One might accuse such classicism of deliberate jargoneering and
obfuscation, but the translations make it clear that such affixes actually
produce useful and, had one the classics to know them, clear definitions of the
pertinent terms. Indeed, the more
modern coinages, mainly suffixes such as
"-bot", "-fest", "-ista", "-meister", and above all "-oholic" and "-gate"
(neither of which latter pair are "true" suffixes) sound slightly
specious.
It is traditional when reviewing dictionaries to parade one's
supposedly superior wisdom: nits, in other words, must be picked. OK. I would
have like to have seen "fashionista", surely the first of the non-political
"-ista" uses; I missed the sci-fi plural "fen" (as in the community of fans)
under "-en". I would have also liked
to see mention of that least classical
and most demotic of suffixes, the Australian slang "-o", as in "garbo", "milko",
"sango" and so many more. And ... and that's about it. Other, that is, than the
title: both terms are suffixes, surely a suitably assonant prefix could have
been found.
Despite their
primary use as works of reference, dictionaries (even the mighty OED) should
entertain as well as inform. "Ologies and Isms" performs absolutely as required.
It will, as the blurb writers have it, delight anyone with an interest in words.
As subscribers to World Wide Words, our communal hat should be tipped
to
Michael Quinion. As also to the OUP: of late too often sidetracked into the
second-rate, this is what the Press does best.
[Quinion, Michael
"Ologies and Isms: Word Beginnings and Endings", Oxford University Press;
paperback, pp280; ISBN 0-19-280123-6; publisher's price GBP8.99. Out in the UK
on 29 August 2002; published in Canada next month, in Australia on 1 November,
and in the US next Spring. For sample entries and online
ordering
suggestions, see <http://www.worldwidewords.org/ologies.htm>.]
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5.- APIBA SIGS IN
SEPTEMBER
Our dear SHARER Analía Kandel,
APIBA SIGs Liaison Officer, apibasigs@apiba.org.ar sends us this
update of their Special Interest Groups.
Phonology SIG
Coordinators: Roxana Basso - Maria
Isabel Santa
Date: Saturday, September 14, 2002
-- Time: 9 - 11
Venue:
Cultural Inglesa de Buenos Aires, Viamonte 1475, Buenos
Aires
Language
SIG
Coordinators: Maria Luisa
Ghisalberti - Myriam Sosa Belenky
Date: Saturday, September 14, 2002
-- Time: 11.15 - 13.15
Venue:
Cultural Inglesa de Buenos Aires, Viamonte 1475, Buenos Aires
Business
SIG
Coordinators: Maria Laura Fox -
Gabriela Pezzi de Lozada
Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2002
-- Time: 10.30 - 12.30
Asociacion
de Ex-Alumnos de Lenguas Vivas, Paraguay 1935, Buenos
Aires
Agenda: 1. Maria Laura Speziali will focus on
vocabulary from chapters 1 and 2 from “Managing in Turbulent Times” by Peter
Drucker.
2. Discussion of the contents of some web sites related
to Knowledge Management. For details about these web sites please e-mail
apibasigs@apiba.org.ar
Cultural Studies
SIG
Coordinators:
Paula Lopez Cano - Erika Navarro
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2002
-- Time: 9 - 10.30
Venue: SBS
Palermo, Av. Coronel Diaz 1745, Buenos Aires
Literature
SIG
Coordinators: María Valeria Artigue
- Susana Groisman
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2002
-- Time: 11 - 13
Venue: SBS
Palermo, Av. Coronel Diaz 1745, Buenos Aires
Agenda: "El Aleph" and "Borges y
yo". by S. Groisman followed by workshop. Background reading: Magic Realism. In
Lodge, David. 1992. The Art of Fiction. London: Penguin.
Professional
Development SIG -Olavarria, Prov. of
BA.
Co-ordinators:
Melina Barbero - Karina Elbey - Silvana Riccio de Bottino
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2002
-- Time: 11 to 12.30
ISFD Nº 22
"A. Alsina", Ayacucho 2418 . Olavarría, Prov. of B.A.
Agenda: 1. Reflecting on our own
professional development by Lidia Bravo.
2. Workshop on "Motivating our
students" by M. Barbero, K. Elbey and S. Riccio.
NEW
SIG!
SLT (Second Language
Teaching) SIG - Lomas de Zamora, Prov. of
BA.
Coordinators: Monica Gandolfo -
Silvia Rettaroli
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2002
-- Time: 10 - 12
Venue: ISP
"Presbitero A. Saenz", Calle Saenz 740, Lomas de Zamora, Prov. of
B.A.
Agenda: Exploration of interest
areas to be dealt with in 2002 sessions.
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6.- PRONUNCIATION
SOFTWARE
Our dear SHARER Silvina David from La Plata sends us this useful lists of sites where we can find software to help our students to systematically work on improving their pronunciation.
(1) http://www.proteatextware.com.au/csbr.htm
There's only a British and an
American version.
A demonstration session of “Hearsay” software
to reduce foreign accent.
(3) http://www.divace.com/language/solomedi.php?page=language
or
http://www.divace.com (start here if you don't get to the
link above)
“Divace Solo” for listening, recording and
comparing (but it is not free!)
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7.- MOVING UPWARD
Our dear SHARER Bethina Viale sends
us this beautiful message which as she says in her posting is …”worth reading”:
I got to poking
through some of the old things I'd saved and came across a wonderful little
article from an issue of "Guideposts Magazine." It's by Arthur Gordon and is
titled "The Rewards of Caring."
He tells the
story of how once, as a small boy, he was witness to a near-tragedy. At
the beach, a woman stepped off a sandbar into deep, swift water and
panicked. At least 20 adults in bathing suits watched, apparently
paralyzed, until suddenly a young man ran up, plunged in fully clothed, and
brought the woman out.
As Arthur Gordon described the episode later to his
parents, his admiration for the young man was matched by the contempt he felt
for those who failed to act. She was drowning, and they didn't even seem
to care.
His father looked at him thoughtfully and said, "The world often
seems divided between those who care and those who don't care enough. But
don't judge too harshly. It takes courage to care greatly."
It does
take courage to care, to open your heart and react with sympathy or compassion
or indignation or enthusiasm when it is easier, and sometimes safer, not to get
involved. But people who take the risk, who deliberately discard the armor
of indifference, make a tremendous discovery -- the more things you care about,
and the more intensely you care, the more alive you become.
Caring or not
caring can spell the difference between success and failure in a job, in a
marriage -- in every human relationship. As Emerson said, "Nothing great
was every achieved without enthusiasm." And what is enthusiasm but
passionate caring?
A famous jeweller once sold a magnificent ruby after one
of his salespeople had failed to interest the customer. Asked how he did
it, the jeweller said, "My clerk is an excellent man, an expert on precious
stones. There's just one difference between us -- he knows jewels, but I "love"
them. I care what happens to them, who wears them. The customers
sense this. It makes them want to buy -- and they do."
In such cases,
of course, caring ultimately brings tangible reward, but the great philosophers
and religious leaders have always taught this paradox: The most rewarding form
of caring is caring without hope of reward.
Fortunately for mankind, the
world is full of people who go quietly through life performing, as Wordsworth
put it, "little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love."
The
volunteer worker at the hospital, the unpaid canvasser for the community chest,
the neighbor who offers to take care of your children while you settle a new
house -- such people have no ulterior motive and expect no recompense.
They act because they care, and their actions, multiplied my millions, supply
the force that keeps the human race moving upward from barbarism along the path
of growth.
There are people who say that if you care too much, you can get
hurt. That's right -- you win some, and you lose some. But the alternative is a
pretty bleak and uninteresting existence.
© Wendyl K.
Leslie
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.- UNDERSTANDING COUNTABLE
AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Our dear SHARER Victoria Alperín from Asunción, Paraguay sends us this
material we can all put to
immediate use with our students.
When we speak of nouns as being
countable or uncountable, we mean that some things can be counted while others
cannot. Countable nouns name individual items that can add up; there can be one
or more of them. Other things
cannot be counted; they
are considered collective rather
than individual items. In many
cases this distinction is easy to understand. We all recognize that we can count items
like books, tables, eggs, or mountains.
We can easily imagine one or more
of such items. And most of us
recognize that it is not possible to count other things like water, dust, air,
or ice cream. These things cannot
easily be separated into individual items.
But many nouns are uncountable for
less obvious reasons.
Most concepts or abstract ideas
like peace, happiness, wealth and knowledge are uncountable. So are many activities such as swimming,
eating, and debauchery, and some conditions such as confusion, frustration,
satisfaction, and certainty. These nouns are considered uncountable because they
are not easily identified as single things--the idea of happiness can consist of
many different things and can be different for different people—or because they
refer to general activities rather than specific instances; eating refers to the
activity in general, not any particular example. The names of most disciplines are also
uncountable, for example, sociology, medicine, anthropology.
Nouns ending in -ism are also
usually uncountable, for example, feminism, optimism, patriotism.
Some uncountable nouns like money,
homework, work, and gossip are very confusing for learners of English because
they seem to refer to particular items, yet they are treated as general. When we speak of work, we are not
thinking of a particular job or activity--we include the idea of what anyone
might do in any job that would be considered doing work. Jobs are countable items that are
specific instances of the general idea of work.
In the same way, homework is not
the particular assignment or assignments a student does. It is the general idea
of students doing assignments. When
a student says, "I have to do my homework," he or she may mean one assignment or
several
assignments or parts of one or more
assignments, so the student knows what particular activities are involved, but
they are referred to as part of a generalized activity--my homework can be
something different every day.
Note: As you have perhaps noticed,
individual activities like jobs and assignments--which are closely identified
with uncountable nouns like work and homework--are countable. That means that although you can't say
"I have lots of homeworks to
do," you can say "I have lots of
assignments."
Money is an interesting example of
an uncountable noun because, of course, lots of people love to count their
money.
Also confusing for many students
are the numerous English nouns that have both a countable and an uncountable
sense. Depending on the context, these nouns sometimes refer to a particular
thing and at other times to a general idea. In some
cases this is not difficult. For example,
Death (in general) is
inevitable.
She missed work because there was a
death in her family.
However, many nouns are thought of
as general more by custom than for any clear reason. Many food items fall into this category,
e.g., chicken, cheese, and fruit.
Thus, we see a chicken on a farm,
but we eat chicken; we say that the tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable, but we
like fruit on our cereal.
Note: individual servings of food
items are usually countable, but not the food itself, e.g.,
pie
a piece of pie
bread
a slice of bread
gum
a stick of gum
Other nouns that can be either
countable or uncountable include substances that things can be made of, like
paper or glass. When you write an
essay on paper, it becomes a paper.
Other nouns in this category are words like wood and cloth,
which
refer to the material that may be
made of many different varieties of tree or fabric. Thus, the material of an elm, an oak or
a pine is all wood and linen, silk and cotton are all made into cloth.
Some Common Uncountable Nouns
accuracy darkness
fun
inferiority
admiration
economics
furniture
information
advice efficieny
garbage
integration
aggression
electricity
generosity
intelligence
air
enjoyment
gravity irritability
assistance
entertainment happiness
isolation
behavior
estimation
health
junk
boredom
equipment
heat
justice
bravery
evidence
help
knowledge
chemistry
evolution
homework
laughter
clothing
excitement
honesty
leisure
comprehension fame
ignorance
literature
courage
foolishness
immigration
luck
luggage peace
recreation
stuff
machinery
permission
relaxation
superiority
mail
physics reliability
survival
math
poetry research
tolerance
merchandise
pollution sadness
traffic
money poverty
safety
transportation
music
pride
scenery
trouble
news
productivity
shopping
violence
nonsense
progress
significance
water
oxygen
propaganda
slang
wealth
participation
psychology
snow
weather
pay
rain
status
wisdom
Some Nouns that can be
either Countable or Uncountable
abuse
drama jail
reading
adulthood
duck
jealousy religion
afternoon education
language
revision
age environment law
rock
anger evening liberty
science
appearance exercise
life
school
art fact
love
shock
beauty faith
lunch
society
beer fear
man
sorrow
belief fiction
marriage
space
breakfast film
meat
speech
cheese fish
metal
spirit
chicken flavor
milk
stone
childhood food
morning
strength
cloth freedom
murder
surprise
college friendship
nature
teaching
commitment fruit
paper
temptation
competition glass
passion
theater
concern
government
people
theory
crime
hair
personality
time
culture
hatred
philosophy
tradition
death
history
pleasure
trouble
desire
home
power truth
dinner
hope
prejudice
turkey
disappointment ideology pressure
understanding
discrimination
imagination
prison
weakness
disease
injustice
punishment
wine
divorce
innocence
race
writing
©1998 Hunter
College Reading/Writing Center.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.- NEW WEBSITE FOR
TEACHERS OF ENGLISH : E-TEACHING ON LINE
Our dear friend and SHARER Patricia
Salvador tells us more about her new Website:
Dear
friends,
This is a "special" message for a
very "special "group of friends : our fellow SHARERS. I want you to learn more
about this project, now a reality, that Alice and I (together with a highly professional team) carried out
in spite of all difficulties.
Go through the "mag" and let us
know your reaction.
Fondest
regards
Patricia
Good News! www.e-teachingonline.com.ar is now available!
e-teachingonline is a service mag
on line to assit English teachers with:
Activities for all level students
(Kids,Teens, Adults, Business)
Printable material to take to the
classroom (Take 5'), to reproduce (Arts and Crafts), etc.
Hints and tips for your classwork
and updated articles on ELT .
Services such as dictionaries,
classifieds, book reviews of coursebooks
and resource books for teachers,
relevant links for the different levels, etc.
Info about training courses,
international exams, scholarships, educational tourism and outings in English,
educational material, etc.
News and interesting interviews to
personalities and celebs...
Click....
www.e-teachingonline.com.ar
and see all we have to offer to
increase your potential. Go through all the sections and find what meets your
needs
The first issue is a sampler :
we're showing you almost all the material!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.- WHEN CHILDREN
LEARN.
Our
dear SHARER Marcela
Santafé y Soriano from Olivos writes to us:
Dear Omar,
I really enjoy SHARE tremendously!
I started receiving it only at the end of last year when one of my classmates at
the Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa (Universidad de Belgrano) brought the
information into the class and shared it with all of us.
the purpose of this letter is to
let you know I really enjoy your work. I also wanted to send you something you
might enjoy and want to share with others.
I hope you enjoy
it.
Marcela
Santafé y Soriano
WHEN CHILDREN
LEARN
When children learn that happiness
is not found in what a person has
but in who that person
is,
When they learn that giving and
forgiving are more rewarding
than taking and
avenging,
When they learn that suffering is
not eased by self-pity
but overcome by inner resolve and
spiritual strength,
When they learn that they can't
control the world around them,
but they are the masters of their
own souls,
When they learn that relationships
will prosper
if they value friendship over
ego
compromise over pride,
and listening over
advising,
When they learn not to hate a
person whose difference they fear,
but to fear that kind of
hate,
When they learn that there is
pleasure in the power of lifting others up,
not in the pseudo-power of pushing
them down,
When they learn that praise from
others is flattering
but meaningless if it is not
matched by self-respect,
When they learn that the value of
life is best measured
not by the years accumulating
possessions,
but by the moments spent giving of
one's self- sharing wisdom,
inspiring hope,
wiping tears
and touching
hearts,
When they learn that a person's
beauty
is not seen with the eyes
but with the
heart,
And that even though time and
hardships may ravage one's outer shell,
they can enhance one's character
and perspective,
When they learn to withhold
judgment of people,
knowing everyone is blessed with
good and bad qualities,
and that the emergence of either
often depends on the help given or
on the hurt inflicted by others,
When they learn that very person
has been given the gift of a unique self,
and the purpose of life is to share
the very best of that gift with the world,
When children learn these ideals
and
how to practise them in the art of
good living,
they will no longer be
children.
They will be blessings to those who
know them,
and worthy models for all the
world.
David L. Weatherford.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.- FAAPI 2002 : THE FINAL
COUNTDOWN
In a few more days the big event of
the English teaching profession in our country will be opening in dear old
Córdoba. There is still time to register. You can get the
enrolment form from http://www.faapi.com.ar/Congresos.htm.
or from the Newsboard Section of our Website : www.shareeducation.com.ar
Below you will find a tempting list
of only some of the renowned specialists that will be taking part in the event:
Federación
Argentina de Asociaciones de Profesores de Inglés
2002 FAAPI Conference - 19 - 21
September 2002 - Córdoba
The 2002 FAAPI Conference aims to
provide a forum for comparing experiences and sharing ideas of interest in the
fields of EFL methodology, curriculum development and technology applied to EFL
instruction. Specifically, this year's conference will provide an opportunity to
consider what has been achieved and what new directions are available on issues
such as:
* EFL
Methodology
* Schools curricula at the EGB and
Polimodal levels
* Teacher Education
curricula
* ESP
curricula
* International examinations
curricula
* Bilingual education
curricula
* Literature and culture in the EFL
curriculum
* The place of technology in
the EFL
curriculum
For further information, please
contact the Conference Office:Telefax
0351 - 427 0022 - faapi2002@hotmail.com
Ana
María ARMENDÁRIZ (Ministerio de Educación, Buenos Aires) (Schools Curricula)
Daniel
FERNÁNDEZ, M.A. (Universidad Nacional del Litoral) (Teacher Education Curricula)
Dr.
Antonieta CELANI, Ph.D. (Pontifícia Universidade Católica, São Paulo) (Schools
Curricula)
Dr. Christine
HELOT, Ph.D. (Institut de Formation de Maîtres, Strasbourg) (Bilingual Education
Curricula)
Dr. Christine
HELOT, Ph.D. (Institut de Formation de Maîtres, Strasbourg) (Bilingual Education
Curricula)
Jeremy HARMER,
M.A. (Curriculum design)
John Mc RAE
(University of Nottingham) (Literature and Culture in the Curriculum)
Adriana
ALVAREZ (Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Gral. Roca) (Teacher
Education Curricula)
Adriana
BARRIONUEVO (Escuela Normal Superior en Lenguas Vivas "J.B.Alberdi", Tucumán)
(Bilingual Education Curricula)
Adriana
BOFFI (Universidad Nacional de la Plata, UCLES) (International Exams Curricula)
Alba
LOYO, M.A. (Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto) (ESP Curricula)
Alejandra
PORTELA (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) (Teacher
Education Curricula)
Analía
KANDEL, M.A. (ISP "Joaquín V. González", Buenos Aires) (Writing)
Ana
María MORRA de DE LA PEÑA (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba)
(Moderator Writing)
Claudia
FERRADAS MOI, M. A. (IES en Lenguas Vivas "J. R. Fernández"; Universidad
Nacional de Quilmes) (Literature and Culture in the Curriculum)
Cristina
THOMSON de GRONDONA WHITE (Escuela Superior en Lenguas Vivas "J.F. Kennedy",
Buenos Aires) (Literature and Culture in the Curriculum)
Dr.
Cristina BANFI, Ph. D. (ESSARP; APIBA) (Bilingual Education Curricula)
Dr.
Cristina ELGUE de MARTINI, Ph. D. (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de
Córdoba) (Moderator: Literature and Culture in the Curriculum)
Dr.
Liliana ANGLADA, Ph.D. (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba)
(Writing)
Dr.
Susana TUERO, Ph.D. (Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata) (Writing)
Efraín
DAVIS, M:A. (Universidad Nacional de Quilmes) (Schools Curricula)
Elba
VILLANUEVA de DEBAT (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba)
(Moderator: Bilingual Education Curricula)
Graciela
AGNELLI (G-TELP) (International Exams Curricula)
Graciela
PASCUAL (Universidad Nacional de La Pampa) (Writing)
Ingrid
BLANK (Ministerio de Educación, Prov. de Córdoba; Facultad de Lenguas,
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) (Schools Curricula)
Julio
GIMÉNEZ, M.A. (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) (Moderator:
ESP Curricula)
Laila
NICOLA, M. A. (Formely Escuela Superior de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de
Córdoba; Saint Patrick's School, Córdoba) (Bilingual Education Curricula;
Literature and Culture in the Curriculum)
Lic.
Eleonora SALAS (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; IICANA)
(International Exams Curricula)
Lic.
María Rosa MARIANI (ISFD Nº 24, Bernal, Prov. Buenos Aires) (Moderator: Schools
Curricula)
Lidia
QUEVEDO (Universidad Nacional de Catamarca) (ESP Curricula)
Liliana
FORTUNY (Universidad Nacional de Salta) (ESP Curricula)
Liliana
MURILLO (Universidad Nacional de Jujuy) (Schools Curricula)
Mabel
BENAVÍDEZ de ALBAR DÍAZ (Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes, Universidad
Nacional de San Juan) (Literature and Culture in the Curriculum)
Mabel
GALLO (ICANA, Buenos Aires) (International Exams Curricula)
María
Inés ASIS, M.A. (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) (Writing)
Mariel
AMEZ (Instituto de Enseñanza Superior "Olga Cossettini", Rosario) (Teacher
Education Curricula)
Melina
PORTO (Universidad Nacional de La Plata) (Writing)
Mónica
GANDOLFO (ISFD Nº 24, Bernal, Prov. Buenos Aires) (ESP Curricula)
Sandra
FADDA (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) (Literature and
Culture in the Curriculum)
Susana
CABIDO (Academia Argüello, Córdoba) (Bilingual Education Curricula)
Susana
LIRUSO, M.A. (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) (Moderator:
International Exams Curricula)
Teresa
DAVIS (Instituto de Enseñanza Superior "Juan Ramón Fernández", Buenos Aires)
(Teacher Education Curricula; Bilingual Education Curricula)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.- NEW BOOK BY AN ARGENTINIAN
AUTHOR
Our dear friend Celina Cullen has
published a new book for the practice of the basics of English Grammar. Our heartfelt
congratulations!
Celina was kind enough to send us a
copy of her book which we donated to the library of the Instituto Nacional
Superior del Profesorado de la Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (triunnvirato
3174- Buenos Aires) where it can be consulted. Let us read what Celina has got
to say:
I'd like to
share with you my experience as a teacher after 9 years of work with students
who had to sit for their English exams and with those who find it hard to
acquire the language. Learning English as a foreign language may be
for some students an enjoyable task, but for others who find it hard to acquire
the basic rules of the language, it may become a troublesome one. Thus, it is
the teachers’ job to prepare different activities for these students to help
them reach a successful learning goal. What I mean is that successful teachers
are those who are able to make students understand, learn and internalise
whatever they are learning. Though this definition may sound obvious, it is in
fact a not very easy goal to achieve.
Here we come to the point of analysing our
student, the one to whom all our activities are directed to. To put it in a
simple way we can classify them into 3 wide categories. First, we have those
clever and interested students who find the learning of the foreign language an
enjoyable task. Second, we have the ones who understand but don’t like the
language, this situation requires on the part of the teachers a "careful" and
hard working task. In my opinion there is a third group often neglected. It is
the one of those students who, whether they like the language or not, it becomes
really hard for them to acquire the basic rules/ forms of it.
I want to concentrate on how we can help these
students learn the language we are teaching. It is hard but in the end it is
really rewarding ...
Teaching weak students requires important
attitudes on the part of the teachers. First is involvement in the situation;
that is , teachers should recognise among a group of students who are the ones
who need more attention and be ready to help.Second, we need a set of easy
activities to be done by these students. Let’s analyse their characteristics.
The activities should be:
- Straightforward and clear : what sts. should
do must be stated in the simplest way to avoid confussion
- Drill-typed: these exercises serve this
purpose as well. Though they lack communicative value they help in getting
meaning and the forms of the new structures.
- Vocabulary restricted: this obviously
facilitates understanding
- Graded in order of difficulty: the activities
should go from the easiest to the most difficult, thus helping weak students
grasping knowledge slowly and clearly.
All these types of activities are found in a
PHOTOCOPIABLE book called "EXERCISES AND MORE..." which is on sale in some
bookshops. If you find it difficult to get or if you would like a free talk on
English grammar followed by a presentation of the book in your area , please
contact me at:
Deán Funes 45
2309 - Humberto 1° , Pcia. de Santa
Fé
Tel: 03493-480597
e-mail: potycullen@interclass.com.ar
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today we will say goodbye with a
message that our dear friend and SHARER Celia Zubiri sent us . It is a
reflection written by Mother Therese of Calcuta .Let us make this our small way
to pay our respects and homage to that extraordinary and saintly woman on the
5th anniversary of her departure of the Home of our
Father.
Siempre
ten presente que la piel se arruga, el pelo
se vuelve blanco, los días se convierten
en años...
Pero lo importante no cambia; tu fuerza
y tu
convicción no tiene edad. Tu espíritu es
el plumero
de cualquier tela de araña.
Detrás de cada línea de llegada, hay una
de partida.
Detrás de cada logro, hay otro desafío.
Mientras
estés vivo, siéntete vivo.
Si extrañas lo que hacías, vuelve a
hacerlo. No
vivas de fotos amarillas...
Sigue aunque todos esperen que abandones.
No dejes
que se oxide el hierro que hay en ti.
Haz que en vez de lástima, te tengan
respeto.
Cuando por los años no puedas correr,
trota. Cuando
no puedas trotar, camina. Cuando no
puedas caminar,
usa el bastón. ¡¡¡ Pero nunca te
detengas !!!
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK
!
Omar and
Marina.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHARE
is distributed free of charge. All announcements in this electronic magazine are
also absolutely free of charge. We do not endorse any of the services announced
or the views expressed by the contributors. For more information about the
characteristics and readership of SHARE visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/sharemagazine
VISIT OUR WEBSITE : http://www.shareeducation.com.ar
There you can read all past issues
of SHARE in the section SHARE ARCHIVES.